Bottle-capping machine.



H. J. CHILTON.

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-.10, 190a.

9 3 3- a Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

n 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Mi messes Inn/ 7110);

H. J. CHILTON. BOTTLE OAPPING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10, 1908.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911 3 SHBETSSHEET 2.

fmesses H. J. CHILTON. BOTTLE GAPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.10, 1908.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911 a ISEEETSSHEET 3.

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' Witnesses aXW TINTTET) tdTAitlllb ,HENRY J. CHILTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BOTTLE-CAPPING IJZACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 10, 1908.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

Serial 1%. 447,677.

To all 107mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. CHILTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Capping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bottle filling and capping machines and has among its salient objects'to provide a machine so organized as to handle bottles supported in groups in holders or crates, and including mechanism. for conveying the crates to the capping mechanism, and capping the bottles during a dwell in movement of the conveyer; to provide a machine of the character referred to so organized that the crates or holders containing the bottles are advanced. step by step and the rows of bottles capped successively; to provide in a machine of the above character novel mechanism for automati cally scaling .017 capping the bottles while within the crates; to provide novel mechanism for ellecting suitable timec. movements of the several sets of cooperatingmechanisms, and in general. to provide an improved construction. of the character referred to.

The invention. consists in the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claii'ns.

In the drawingsFigure l is a side elevation of my invention, parts being" broken away and other parts shown in section to more clearly bring out-details of construction. Fig. 2 is a transversi sectional view taken on lines 2? of Fi 1. and looking in the direction of th: arrows. Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view taken on. the indirect line (B -3 and looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. lis a detail sectional view of the clutch mechanism which controls the operation of the capping pluugers. l ig. is a horizontal sectional view taken on lines -5 of Fig. 1 and looking downwardly. Fig. (3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the construction of the carriage for the capping mechanism. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view of one of the capping plunger-s and showing a portion of the associated.

feed chute.

Referring to the drawings 1 designates as a whole a skeleton like frame member or casting having a base portion 2 and a series of upright standard members 3 which supl l 1 l 1 l li 1 port the various operating mechan sms hereinafter described. The -bottles which are to be filled and capped are supported in rows in suitable crates or holders 4c which extend transversely of the machine and ride upon a pair of tracks 5 extending longitudinally of the upper part of the main casting and secured to the latter by suitable brackets 6. These crates are carried along on the tracks by a pair of endless conveyers 7 there being one at each side of the machine. Each of these conveyers is provided with a series of Lip-standing lug. .8 between which the crates are securely confined upon the conveyors as the latter rotate. Each conveyer is trained around a pair of sprocket wheels 9-9' suitably keyed to transversely extending shafts 1010' respectively journaled transversely between the upright casing members. These conveyors are adapted to be intermittently driven by means of a novel mechanism now to be described. To the above end a main shaft 11 is suitably jonrnaled in the lower part of the main frame and is operatively connected witha parallel shaft 12 journaled in the upper part of the frame, by means of a belt 1?) trained around suitable sheaves 1st and 15- keyed to the outer ends of the shafts 11 and 12 respectively. Upon the shaft 12 is fixed a worm 16 which meshes with a worm gear 17 keyed to a counter shaft 18 which extends longitudinally of the machine and is rotatably mounted in suitable journal blocks file-19. Near the forward end of the shaft 18 is keyed a mutilated beveled rear 20 which meshes with a similar smaller gear 21 keyed upon the con veyer shaft 10. The teeth of this mutilated gear 20 extend through only approximately one-fourth of its circumference, and thus the conveyor belts are obviously intermittently driven. The arrangement is such that during: the time each crate of bottles is being capped there will be a dwell in movement 0 f the conveyer.

The filling mechanism forms no part of the present invention and scribed in detail. As seen in Fig. 1 the filling; mechanism, designated as a whole 22, is mounted on standards 21 carried by the main frame. The filling devices are made to correspond with the rows of bottles so that there is a filling tube for each bottle. The filling mechanism is operated from the main cam mechanism hereinafter described. This operating mechanism, however, forms need not be dew riage designate no part of the present invention and need not be described in detail.

Referring now tothe manner of sealing or capping the bottles, upon suitable standards 50, which may be-cast with the mainframe are supported parallel tracks 51. Upon these tracks is adapted to ride-a traveling caras a whole 52. This carriage is provided at either side with suit-' able rollers 53-and is confined in position upon the tracks by means of angle bars 54- secured by bolts 55 to outer edges of the tracks. Within this carriage 5-2 is mounted to reciprocate a series of cappers which are connected together by a suitable web 57 the outer ends'of which slide in guide ways 58 formed in opposite sides of the carriage. Describing now the construction of each of these c'appers, and referring more particu ,larly to Fig. '7, within the cylindrical casting 58 is mounted a plunger 56 which is adapted to engage the mouth of the bottle.

This plunger 56 is axially bored to receive a spring pressed rod 60, and is counter bored as shown at 61 to receive a coiled spring 62 which normally tends to force the rod downwardly. ,The outer end of the plunger 56 is provided with an enlarged conical bore 03 adapted to receive the caps. As the latter are fed from a suitable-chute 64 they are held in position within the plungers by means of suitable spring clips 65. To permit of the spring 62 being more readily inserted in position the plunger. 56 is of two: part construction as shown. Preferably the plungers 56 are cushioned within the casing by means of a coiled spring 56". This latter arrangement is preferable in case. the mouths of the bottles should not be inexact alinement with each other.

Describing new the mechanism for reciprocating these plungers so as to apply'the caps-to the bottles, at the upper face of the carriageisvsuitably journaled a crank shaft 66 operativelyconnected to the web 57 by means of pitmen 67. This crank shaft 66 is provided at one end. with a shaft extension 68 upon the outer end of which is idly journaled a beltsheave 70 which is driven from the main shaft 11 by abelt 70. Upon the shaft extension 68 adjacent to the idler sheave 70 is fixed a collar 69' which is adaptedto have clutching engagement with the idler sheave 70. Accordingly the collar 69' is axially bored as shown at 7 2 to receive a clutch pin 71 which is adapted to engage suitable recesses-73 formed in the adjacent face of the sheave 70 and is normally forced therein by means of a spring 71. The pin 71 is normally held out of engagement .with the sheave 70 by means of a hook shaped finger 74 pivotally mounted at 74" on the carriage. The finger7 l is provided with an mtegral extension 77 to which is connected a vertically extending rod 76, the lower end of which is slidably mounted upon a horizontally extending rod 78. This rod 7 8 is in tegrally connected at either end to a parallel rod 79 by means of cross heads 80. The rod 79 is mounted in brackets 81 secured to the ends of the housing 54 in such a manner as to permit the rods tohave only a limited rocking movement. To one end of the rod 78 is connected a second vertical rod 81 the lower end of which is pivotally connected to one arm ofthe bell crank lever 82 mounted upon a support 83 secured to the main frame. To the other arm of the bell. crank 82 is connected'a spring pressed rod 84- supported insuitable guides 85 as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. The outer end of this spring pressed rod 84 is adapted to engage pins 86 upon one end of a drum 87 hereinafter more particularly described. As the drum 87 rotates one of the pins 86 co-engages the spring pressed rod 84 forcing it inwardly, operating the connecting leverage mechanism and tripping off the finger 74:. The pin 71 thereupon springs into one of the recesses 73 and the crank shaft 66 is locked to the constantly rotating sheave 70. After thepin 86 has wiped by the end of the spring pressed rod 84 the latter springs back to normal position operating the connected leverage mechanism and restoring the finger 74 to its normal position. After the shaft 66 has made one complete revolution which is sufficient to apply the caps to the bottles the outer end of the pin 71 will again engage the finger 74 and be-automatically drawn from the sheave 70 as shown more clearly Fig. 6. The various parts just described are of course arranged to operate in properly timed relation.

l'n the embodiment of the invention herein shown each crate is provided with three rows of bottles and in order to cap each row during the time the crate is held stationary it is necessary to bodily shift the carriage 52 upon its tracks. To this end a cam bail 89 is rigidly connectedto'either end of the carriage by means of suitable bolts 90, and at its lower end is provided with a cam roller 91 which'is adapted to ride within a pcculiarly shaped cam groove 92 extending circumferentially of the drum 87. As the drum is rotated the roller travels along the path of the cam groove 92 and is shifted in an endwise direction. upon the periphery of the drum. The arrangement is such that the carriage will be shifted step by step to the successive rows of bottles there being a slight dwell 'in movement of the carriage after each step in order to allow ofthe plungers being reciprocated downwardly and the caps accurately applied to the bottles. .H'terthe carriage has been shifted to the last row of bottles there will be a somewhat long-er dwell in movement of the carriage in order to permit a second crate to be moved lid up into position for groove is of course so shaped as to perform the above named functions. It is to be noted that in the first crate the forward row of bottles will be first capped and then the second and third rows successively, while in the pext crate the order will be reversed and the rear row capped first.

Inasmuch as the drum 87 would not operate in properly timed relation if it were connected directly to the'counter shaft 18 it is driven through a suitable train of gears. To this end the forward end of the drum is provided with a relatively large spur gear 94 which meshes with a relatively wide gear 95 journaled upon a stub shaft 96 which is supported between suitable brackets 97 fixed to the main frame. This gear 95 in turn meshes with a similar g'ear 98'journaled upon a stub shaft 99 fixed to an extension of one of the brackets 97. The gear 98 engages a similar gear 99 mounted upon the collar 10,0 keyed'to .the counter shaft 18.

It might be here noted that the driving shaft 11 is provided with a rigid pulley sheave 101 and a similar idler sheave 102. This permits of the drivingbolt being shifted to the idler sheave 102 when it is desired to stop the machine.

While I have herein shown the preferred embodiment of my invention it is of course apparent that it may be varied in numerous details of construction without in any manner departing from its, spirit thereof.

I claim as my invention: I

1. In a bottle hai pdii ing apparatus, the

combination with a main frame, of a convcycr mechanism for moving bottle handling crates along said main frame, bottle handling crates actuated by said conveyor wherein the bottles are arranged in transversely extending rows, mechanism for intermittently driving said conveyers and means for automatically sealing the bottles while within said holders during a dwell in movement of the conveyer comprising a traveling carriage mounted upon said main frame, sealing mechanism mounted to reciprocate vertically within said carriage, and operatively interconnected mechanism for alternately actuating said sealing mechanism and for shifting said carriage.

2. In a bottle handling apparatus, the combination with a main frame, of a conveyer mechanism, a bottle holding crate actuated by said conveyor mechanism and capping. The cam wherein thebottles are arranged in transversely extending rows, mechanism for simultaneously sealing a row of bottles in said crate mechanism for shifting said sealing mechanism to seal the successive rows of bottles within the crate and mechanism for automatically operating said parts in properly timed relation.

3. In a bottle handling apparatus, the combination with a suitable main frame, of an intermittently actuated conveyer mechanism, a bottle holder actuated by said conveyer mechanism and in which the bottles are arranged in transversely extending rows, means for actuating the conveyor mechanism, mechanism for simultaneously sealing a row of bottles while within said holder and cam controlled mechanism for. shifting said sealing mechanism to the successive rows of bottles within said holder.

4. In a bottle handling apparatus, the combination with a main frame, of means for supporting the bottle holder. upon said main frame wherein the bottles are arranged in transversely extending rows, mechanism for sealing a row of bottles within said holder,'mcchanism for'bodily shifting said sealing mechanism to successively seal the succeeding rows of bottles and means for automatically operating said parts in properly timed relation. I

5. In a bottle handling apparatus, the combination with a main frame. of an intermittently driven conveyor, a wherein the bottles are arranged in transversely extending rows actuated by said conveyor, sealing mechanism, mechanism for shifting said sealing mechanism to succes HENRY J. CHILTON.

Witnesses:

Lois Fonon, F. G. Bnmuvar.

bottle holder for operating said. 

